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Research questions

The central research question in the MeCETES project is: what sorts of trans-European cultural encounters do films and television drama enable, why, how and with what impact? This question can be broken down to more specific questions:

Production and policy

How are cultural encounters between European audiences and European screen fictions enabled by industry and policy circumstances?

How widespread are the practices of co-production and other forms of cross-border funding within Europe?

To what extent is the co-production of films and television drama within Europe enabled or thwarted by EU and national cultural and media policies?

Distribution and impact

How do cultural products circulate, with what type of support and release strategies, and through which platforms (theatrical, broadcast, free-to-air, pay-per-view, through DVD or the internet, etc.)?

How extensive is transnational distribution, especially through digital platforms and other new modes of dissemination?

What is the impact of these various transnational circumstances on audiences and cultural debate?

Genres and cultural representation

What sorts of trans-European cultural encounters do films and television drama enable, and what representational forms do these encounters take?

How are other European represented in different media, different types of production and different genres, especially contemporary drama, period drama and crime thrillers, and through various types of narrative, character and aesthetic presentation?

To what extent do cultural and media policies and practices encourage stories about cultural exchange and diversity?

Audiences and reception

How do different European audiences engage with screen fictions from, about or set in other European countries?

How do they respond to representations of other Europeans?

What role do films and television drama play in negotiating a sense of what it means to be European, to be part of a wider Europe, to share a common European identity or to recognise the rich diversity of European identities

The digital challenge

How can cultural and media policies be developed to best enable the pan-European production and distribution of screen fictions in the digital era?

How can policy be changed to ensure the development of cross-border digital distribution structures in a single European audio-visual market and therefore enhance cultural exchange and European identity building?